5 Reasons I Didn’t Want to Become a Christian
In my spiritual journey I went from being a nominal Christian to an atheist to a theist to a Christian. For this post, I want to focus on the time that I was a theist. Even though I had regained faith in God, I did not want to become a Christian. In no way am I suggesting that my story applies to everyone. This is only my story.
1. Geographical reasons. One of the reasons that I wanted to dismiss Christianity was because of geography. I was raised in a Christian family because I was born in Canada. What if I had been born in Saudi Arabia or Nepal? Christianity seemed too obvious for a Canadian.
2. Christian pressure. I was being witnessed to by some Christians. While I appreciate that now, I do regret their high pressure techniques. I was told that now that they had explained the Gospel to me, Satan was going to try and kill me before I became a Christian. I was also told that the rapture was going to be any day and even if I became a Christian during the tribulation, I would have to be beheaded by the Anti-christ.
3. Witness of televangelists. This was during the time of the fall of a number televangelists. Not only were they really strange (my parents watched Jim Bakker for a laugh), they were also very corrupt. If they were not taking Christianity seriously, why should I?
4. Fear of failure. The impression I had of Christianity was that you had to be near perfect. You could be condemned for listening to the wrong music or watching the wrong television show. I knew I could not be perfect and so I thought there was no reason to begin that journey.
5. Fear of friends. Among my friends, I was one of the heaviest drinkers. They could always count on me for a great drunkfest. What would they think if I became a Christian? How could I explain this change? It is true that there was some teasing, although there was more confusion. Even so, many of those friends became Christians later in life.
As I said, this is my story. However, you may find that some of these are applicable to the friends you are witnessing to. Be sensitive to what is happening on the inside. It is not always stubborn rebellion. Be patient and be willing to walk with them through their questions.
Tks Stephen, This is a very honest evaluation of your spiritual path. I can relate to some. As a young (French) man I got to know Jesus in the midst of the Jesus’ movement and counter-culture sweeping Europe in the early 70’s. Got saved with hippies using protestant hard sale approach of bringing as many souls in the Kingdom as possible with shooting “salvation prayer” right and left wielding scriptures. I left sectarian communal living and outreach in my 40’s, it was time to rethink my faith and honesty asked “why do I believe what I believe?” Thus, leading my need for apologetics and addressing complex people behaviors, social issues and erroneous beliefs. Today, I have many non-Christians friends who are looking to me for my views without necessary embracing Christianity although Jesus remains intriguing to them. Friends that I influence rather than convert. This has proven a much more deeper, long term, loving and fruitful approach. The rest is up to the HS, I suppose.